Chile Forum

Chile Forum in English for Gringos, Expatriates, and Travelers to Exchange Ideas and Information about Chile, South America. For more than a decade, the Chile Forum has been the center for expats to share their collective knowledge and experience about living in Chile. The Chile Forum is a free community service brought to you by the law office of Spencer Global.

well could have been worse. you could have drank the kool-aid being pushed by expat scams in Argentina back around 2004-2007 or so.

the argentinean peso was 1 to 2 when i first arrived in south america. The fake peg / dollars they were printing had just broken, when it became obvious the Argentina did not have u.s. dollars to back it up.

44.86 to the dollar today, and the election is just getting going.

Investing gold, silver, or even dog shit would have been a better investment than Argentina over the last two decades.

At one point we had a rather massive exodus of expats out of Argentina. some had to trade everything they owned in Argentina because they could not sell it. they could not get the money out except in barter.

well could have been worse. you could have drank the kool-aid being pushed by expat scams in Argentina back around 2004-2007 or so.

the argentinean peso was 1 to 2 when i first arrived in south america. The fake peg / dollars they were printing had just broken, when it became obvious the Argentina did not have u.s. dollars to back it up.

44.86 to the dollar today, and the election is just getting going.

Investing gold, silver, or even dog shit would have been a better investment than Argentina over the last two decades.

At one point we had a rather massive exodus of expats out of Argentina. some had to trade everything they owned in Argentina because they could not sell it. they could not get the money out except in barter.

well could have been worse. you could have drank the kool-aid being pushed by expat scams in Argentina back around 2004-2007 or so.

the argentinean peso was 1 to 2 when i first arrived in south america. The fake peg / dollars they were printing had just broken, when it became obvious the Argentina did not have u.s. dollars to back it up.

44.86 to the dollar today, and the election is just getting going.

Investing gold, silver, or even dog shit would have been a better investment than Argentina over the last two decades.

At one point we had a rather massive exodus of expats out of Argentina. some had to trade everything they owned in Argentina because they could not sell it. they could not get the money out except in barter.

some were able to find argentinans that had vacation properties, cars, etc in chile that were headed back to Argentina for various reasons. some even manged to do a pretty good 1 for 1 swap, house for house, car for car.

we also had an even bigger spike at that time of argentineans selling properties in chile, that would only sell for a bag full of u.s. dollar bills. they smuggled the dollars over the boarder, avoiding the tax authorities in argentina. especialy back when KFC (technically her initials are KFK, BUT KFC is funnier), had deployed dollar sniffing dogs at the boarders.

funny / sad story i heard about a friend of a friend. he was driving back Argentina, when his car caught on fire. it went up so fast all he could do was run. he had $10,000 u.s. in the car.

point is though, you don't hear a whole lot people promoting AR anymore. which kind of ironic, considering if you have none-argentinan income, it is way cheaper to live their now in many respects than it was back in the height of the expat promotion crap. somehow, they seem to always get that backwards.

I have been over there three times in the last 12 months for vacations, including taking the whole family (three cars, 22 people) we rented out an entire hotel except for one room last summer for like 250,000 pesos a night (not very big or very nice). the owner gave us the last room for free, and then she only had to take care of us. going to go over again if the ski season is good.

The problem with buying/selling gold or silver coins in chile - in addition to IVA - is that's there's essentially no market. Most dealers will only buy
chilean pesos so coins from other countries are almost unsellable. For the desperate-to-sell, premiums can run 30-40% or more.

The problem with buying/selling gold or silver coins in chile - in addition to IVA - is that's there's essentially no market. Most dealers will only buy
chilean pesos so coins from other countries are almost unsellable. For the desperate-to-sell, premiums can run 30-40% or more.

The problem with buying/selling gold or silver coins in chile - in addition to IVA - is that's there's essentially no market. Most dealers will only buy
chilean pesos so coins from other countries are almost unsellable. For the desperate-to-sell, premiums can run 30-40% or more.

Yeh, dropped some leafs without a problem at par value......minus 2% for handling..........I would be a buyer at 20% premium....

The problem with buying/selling gold or silver coins in chile - in addition to IVA - is that's there's essentially no market. Most dealers will only buy
chilean pesos so coins from other countries are almost unsellable. For the desperate-to-sell, premiums can run 30-40% or more.

IVA is really a wash. If you buy it in Chile with IVA you sell it in Chile with IVA. Just like real estate.

Anyone "desperate-to-sell" should never have bought it in the first place. Don't punch above your weight, stick to cash or property if you don't have enough liquidity to avoid being desperate. Basically the same as anything you are selling. You should have a whole slew of other things you can sell off if need be...cash emergency cushion, equities, etc without ever needing to dip into long term savings

Most persons here have more than one flag planted so to assume a 100% Chile-only question and answer may not 100% apply.

I've asked before but never received answer. What other countries besides say the US can one travel to to easily liquidate mainline non-Chile AU coins (Eagles, Maples, Roos, Phils, Krugs, etc.) at close to market prices?

Generally, just a SPAM KILLER. You are on your own in this forum. My personal mission here is done.

BUT when necessary, by way of ridicule and truth revelation we shalt do war.

Most persons here have more than one flag planted so to assume a 100% Chile-only question and answer may not 100% apply.

I've asked before but never received answer. What other countries besides say the US can one travel to to easily liquidate mainline non-Chile AU coins (Eagles, Maples, Roos, Phils, Krugs, etc.) at close to market prices?

Crossing a border with metals is highly inadvisable imho. What happens if you get a weon at the border who says the law be darned and just confiscates it? Not a thing you can do. Even less than 10k USD worth that is declared or not declared. Sure some people are successful with it, but lots get screwed. They get accused of "criminal activity" the goods are confiscated. Then no charges are filed but they don't get it back. You might hire a lawyer who will take more of your money to either get nothing back or some percentage back.

If you bought them in Chile with IVA I think you would want to sell them in Chile with IVA.
Again I think of it like real estate. You buy it here, you sell it here.

If one really insists on crossing a border, at least make it a land border...not an airport. Which of course limits you to adjacent countries like Argentina, Peru, maybe Uruguay. I know in Uruguay there are stores that will buy/sell coins, same as Chile with the casa de cambios. I knew expats there in Montevideo that would buy/sell that way

Panama is another place in central america...but probably want to fly there.

If you want to roll fast and loose and fly out and we exclude north and south america. Switzerland or Andorra are the first places I would consider in Europe. After that in Asia, Singapore or Hong Kong.

Another thing that people do in Chile is they get friends to buy it somewhereelse that are already coming to visit Chile and they bring just a few coins. They do this repeatedly over months and years. Only engage with friends they trust. A few coins have a way better chance than dozens and dozens of big black holes on the xray machine
Sometimes they do the reverse and send it to friends else where and sell it (especially if they bought it elsewhere) to keep it apples to apples

Then of course there is a peer to peer market in Chile. People on this forum, expats, etc that trade amongst themselves when mutually beneficial